Dan's Blog

Family:Over the Summer we've had a number of Birthdays. Andrew turned 6, Nora turned 5, and we now have a 5, 6, and 7 year old. The girls had their first ballet recital and Andrew has quit Muey Thai for Greco-Roman wrestling. The Summer months were a change of pace from the consistency of the school year (it's interesting how that works in a college city), so creating rhythms for our family that help us grow together have been very beneficial. It has been, in my view, the fastest season we've ever had, so it was good that we took lots of pictures along the way!

Nora at the Olomouc Zoo

Andrew recently had a Birthday! We now have a 5, 6, and 7 year old.

The girls had their first ballet recital

Adelyn's new classroom

Translation: Killers from a small town.

Trip to CO:In July I (Dan) had the opportunity to travel back to Colorado to connect with our CO supporting churches and get to know our most recent church (The Crossing) in Fort Collins better. And they even let me preach! :-) So, it was a huge honor to get to know them, hopefully be an encouragement, and join their wider network conference (called Crossway Chapel). I also got to reconnect with the Vail church, which was a real treat to meet with their mission team. As well as as our CO home at Park Church. That is a group of people you wish you could uproot and take with you wherever you go. Thankfully we share the same heartbeat for Jesus, and we get to bring that here. Having the opportunity to meet up with our supporters was an immense encouragement and it really helped set the pace for the rest of the Summer after I returned. And.......The food. I have missed green chili smothered burritos at Illegal Pete's and that was nice.

Visiting Park Church was like coming home to a great group of people who were like a glass of cold water for a marathon runner.

During Dan's trip to the States he had the honor of getting to know a supporting church of ours and the whole Crossway Chapel Network. It was a very good conference and we look forward to coming back someday!

Ministry:It would be impossible to capture everything this summer brought us, but we had a number of events along the way worth sharing. In July we joined the church in Vsetin for a family camp, This was a time for Christian and non-Christian families to come and learn some English from real live Americans, and also hear the Gospel through the evening program.

A few weeks later we had another family camp in Olomouc hosted at our house. It was a theme of a lost sailor trying to regain his memory. This gave the kids opportunity to explore the different cultures around the world, and we got to see this find it's culmination at the fort of Olomouc, where we had Church. There was a lot of work put into this, and we're grateful to have seen it turn out so well. New relationships were built and it was a great opportunity to share Jesus.

The weekend following the camps our two friends Owl and Lucie got married. Not only was this our first Czech wedding to attend, but they also invited our kids to be the ring bearer and flower girls. It was really sweet, and it was great to reunite with a lot of people we've known from around the country.

The theme of the Olomouc English Camp was the traveling the continents to help a sailor regain his memory and find his treasure.

The kids made their way to Egypt and turned into mummies.

To get to the fort we had to travel by boat.

And we had a pirate in the way

Metro Church at the Fort

Lisa and our flower girls

Camp by the fire

We have a tradition in our family where we take our kids to cemeteries. One of our core values is Memento Mori (remember death). This is to give us visual reminders that we are only given the dash between our birthdate and our own death, and while Jesus has conquered the grave, memento mori motivates us to use the life we've been to the fullest. "Only one life will soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last."

Exploring nature with this beautiful woman.

The camp site in Northern Czech Republic

The kids evening program

Our Church:Over the summer we had the privilege of hosting a lot. One thing we prayed about before moving here was that our home would be used as a house of hospitality. And that's exactly what we've been given. During the Summer months we slowed down a bit on doing studies together with our small group and we opened our house every week for neighborhood BBQ's to create a space for people to get to know us and the church. This has been a great means of building relationships and a more easy going space to explain why we're here and who Jesus is.Since there has been a change in management over the place we normally gather on Sundays we ended up having church in our home for the past three months. Now, we are back to the art center, but there may be a need to find a new location in the coming months, so please be praying for us about that.

Open House BBQ Wednesdays

Lots of food and great people.

We made our way through Philippians together

Our City has a rich history and this part of the world was once a light house of reformation, through such groups as the Moravians and people like Jan Hus. We're praying the Majak (Lighthouse) church plants would be God's means to see the Kingdom advance through the planting of more local churches, so that disciples would be made and the Gospel would be clear.

Olomouc Wine (Vino) festival. Moravia, the region of CZ that we live in, has wine worth bragging about.

I think she likes me.

Exploring the caves around Olomouc

Finding the dark underground of old cathedrals. Dan almost fell into this thing without a light

Our good friend Devin showing Nora how to use the camera. It was great having him out here to visit on his short term mission trip.

We love our city! In a few weeks we will have been here a year now, and while there are still so many things to learn and adapt to, this is our home and our friends here are practically family. Between our church, Pioneers team, and the conversations we've had back home, this year of change has been made much easier than it could have been. I cannot tell you how grateful to God we are for all of the encouragements along the way. There have been a lot of highs and lows, but we feel more strongly now that this is where we're supposed to be. We're still tired a lot, but now it's mostly in the afternoons, so some energy in the morning is a good sign. It will be nice when our bodies catch up with us from all of the changes.

Missionary Kids (MKs)

Lisa and Kim at a Ballet in Brno.

Date night at the Olomouc Wine Festival.

A big thank you for the care package from our friends in OKC! We miss you guys a ton!

We've found getting our kids involved has actually opened doors to Gospel conversations along the way, since the question we often get is "Why are you here?" when we introduce ourselves. There are many in this country (though not all) who do not have a high view of their homeland. But not only is that an opportunity to share Jesus, but it's also an opportunity to explain to them that there are a ton of redeemable aspects of their culture worth celebrating. While Atheism tends to be the outward image the Czech Republic presents to the world, it is actually an apathetic agnosticism that possesses most of the people here. So, getting involved in our city practically opens doors to more opportunities to invite people to meet Jesus and see what that looks like in community.

The kids are now students at a Czech school, and they will begin their new schools in the Fall. It's really nice, as the school admin is inviting a Czech tutor for each of the kids to learn Czech as they're taking their classes (What a blessing!). And the girls are already going to be apart of a ballet recital in a few weeks. Andrew's Muey Thai classes are still going strong, and he's showing more confidence, as he interacts with the other boys.

Addey's favorite pose she's learned in Ballet.

Andrew wrestling with the boys in Muey Thai before their lesson.

Nora being introduced to her Ballet class.

All of the kids have been accepted into their new Czech Schools! We've had dreams of homeschooling them, but those are being put on the back burner for the time being, as we've come to the point where we see the most healthy situation for them being in the public school system, where they will learn the language, culture, and overall find their home here easier than they would everyday in a purely English environment. They will be given a Czech tutor to help them with their language development as well (Praise God!). One of the things we enjoy about Pioneers is the freedom to be flexible, and we will have opportunities in the future to revise our plans.

It is a great privilege to work with our church here in Olomouc. Our friends have been very patient with us, as we work hard to understand their language, and it's been fun to have different opportunities to teach & preach along the way as well. This summer we're putting on a parenting workshop once per month and a bi-weekly International Bible study. And come this July there will be a number of English camps and events that we will be apart of. So, please pray God would use us along the way to His glory.

Dan preaching on John 6 at Metro Church. Jesus is the bread of life.

Parenting is a tough topic, and as parents with flaws we want to offer the Gospel Centered principles we've found that have not only worked for us so far, but also worked for the families we admire and love.

It's kind of ironic sharing the Gospel at a Roman cathedral.

On top of language training, teaching, and acclimating to our new home it has been a season of travel for us, and some of that has involved going to various conferences. In April we were apart of Pioneer's Euroconnect, where missionaries from all over Europe came together to reconnect and be encouraged by our mutual vision for Europe. Pioneers is the church planting organization we are apart of, and our European branch seeks to equip and send missionaries to the unreached corners of this continent. It was really good to meet new people and have coffee with those who have been here for decades. Getting to learn from other's mistakes and successes made the short trip to Hungary worth it.

The most recent trip to Poland was for the European Leadership Forum. This is a conference for Europeans leaders to come together by their respected disciplines and network/share ideas about how to best reach our countries. Getting to know and hearing the stories of European church planters was a huge highlight and it gave us invaluable insights as to how we can do this in a way that is glorifying to God and Czech in nature. Sitting under the teaching of world class scholars and teachers was a huge joy as well, as John Lennox took us through Acts and Michael Reeves gave us a great reminder of the centrality of Justification for the Reformation today. Walking away from this it was immensely motivating to be in the work of planting Gospel Centered churches in the Czech Republic.

At the European Leadership Forum John Lennox was our plenary speaker who took us through Acts

At our Pioneers Euro conference, where we were greatly encouraged by the missionaries who have been doing minister in Europe for decades.

A key part of ELF is the networks you join. Ours was the church planting network, where we were encouraged and further equipped by seasoned church planters in Europe.

Pioneers had a children's Bible school, where the focus was on Jesus as the Creator and sustainer of all.

The kids put on a sweet presentation and they still remember some of those songs.

What was once a strange new world has quickly become home in the last 8 months. We still don't understand a few things (such as the post office, as the picture captures below), but this city is our city now, and the more we come to understand it the more we realize how much more we have to learn as we seek to be faithful with our time and energy. From holidays to basic ways that people go to the store, it has been a massive learning process.

While it's normal to get around our cities by car in the States, it is far more normal to use the public transportation system here. Trains and Trams are extremely practical, though getting to know the yellow box below was something new (you'd think the cheapest option was for the shortest amount of time, but come to find out those tickets are for children...oops.). But the good news is that we've come to the point where we can get around the city just fine and even engage in some simple Czech conversations.

The yellow box for picking up public transportation tickets.

Our Nádraží/ Train-station

Dan's daily commute to class.

For our Colorado people, the green cross is not a weed dispensary. It's the pharmacy symbol.

The kids catching snowflakes while walking downtown.

This thing is the monster that has kept us from sending things back home. It does not translate well with Google, but we're about to master it in the coming month!

What is a Czech hike?Before we arrived here, we were warned about Czech hikes. Many Czech people walk a lot. And when I say that, I don't think most American's know what I mean by that. They really walk A LOT. And I was not ready for what we went up north to do in mid January. They said it would be a 20km (about a half marathon) hike through the mountains. "Shouldn't be too bad," I thought. But it wound up being as intense as running a half marathon. What was first a brisk fast paced walk, through a few inches of snow, turned into trudging through 1-3 feet of snow for a good couple kilometers at a time uphill, downhill, UPhill, downhill, and a whole lot of UPHILL.

Thankfully the trip was with a group of guys I've come to know as family here. But by the time we had to turn back, there was a small blizzard and a whole lot of up hill hiking to do. Will I do it again? Probably....

The dog was much happier than me toward the end

At the turn around point there was a little open cabin to eat lunch

Family updateIt has been an adjustment figuring out a number of things, like school (for both the kids and us) and our place in this city. We know who we are and why we're here, but the details of what that looks like are a process of learning and adapting where needed. The overall hot topic for our family has definitely been how we want to educate our kids. There are many benefits of having the kids in Czech school, and there are many benefits of having them do homeschooling with the classical model. But which one is best here and now? We don't know. But we've made the decision to put the kids in the Czech school system so that they will learn the language and make friends.

So far school has been a hard transition for them, since most of the kids are timid to interact with each other not knowing each other's languages. And there have been a few additional culture shocks along the way in this area as well. This is all very normal, we're told, but the process can be a struggle, since we want the kids to thrive. But the positives have outweighed the negatives. Lisa has time to devote to her language studies and we're all learning pieces of the culture that we wouldn't have learned otherwise.

Addey is now 7 and is about to get schooled in Checkers.

Calvin sleeps a lot.

There are frequent field trips around the city for the kids.

Nora got to be Mary in the re-enactment of the nativity story.

Holidays!Getting to know the holiday traditions has been fun and interesting for sure. The Christmas market in the main square made the city look festive, and the events that went on around the area made it feel similar to what we have in the States. But the specifics were what made the differences stand out. Instead of Santa Clause (though they have a St. Nicholas day), they use baby Jesus to give out presents on Christmas eve, and there is something about a Christmas Carp that we don't really understand still. But the culture, while mythologizing Christmas in a different way than the American's do, still has a semblance of the supernatural in their traditions. And this actually gives us a number of points of reference in conversation.

New Years

Watching a metal bending demonstration at the Christmas market.

Just Satan's throne in the middle of the mall....

The three wise men come playing musing at your front door. They ask for some money, and then write their initials on your door. Didn't know they did this here, so it was super random to us.

The Christmas Carp is a common tradition, where the Carp swims in the bathtub for a week before Christmas and then they cook it up and enjoy it for the Christmas meal.

Besides consistent language learning, which is beginning to put Seminary to shame in difficulty, we're still loving the community group that we get to pour into, and just recently Dan started an International Bible study with a small group of guys from around the world. It may be some time before we're speaking consistently in Czech, but we're always looking for ways to be used along the way. We're also working on a parenting workshop, where Lisa and myself will be leading a teaching/group discussion for people from the church and around the city, to encourage and disciple parents to have the practical tools to raise kids to the glory of God.

This next week we will be heading to a retreat with the church to encourage each other and get on the same page for what this next season will bring us, and then we'll be heading to Hungary for a family conference to better understand life as a missionary family. .

The Institute is a quarterly gathering, where in depth topics of theology, philosophy, and practical life topics are covered for 4-5 hours.

Dan and Basel from Syria

The men from our Community Group

The Christmas party with about 55 people in the house made for a memorable night!

These last few months have been incredibly formational for our family. What was once a situation that would leave us wide eyed and wondering what the day to day will look like is finally starting to even out into a quality rhythm. There are still the many facets of culture shock that exist for us, and thankfully we know what is normal for people all around the world in our situation (Click here for a brief example of the stages of culture shock). But with the challenges of getting used to a new world, we're now beginning to find our niche, as we're settling into a way of life that is healthy for the long run. Having the long game in mind has been one of the most consistent pieces of advice we've been given, so we've been taking that seriously.

Dan shares a Czech class with a few other international students.

This is barely a fraction of the many ways you can say "go."

One of the key skills that we need to develop here for the long run is to learn the Czech language. It is one of the most difficult to learn from English, and at this point we truly understand why. There are many complexities and exceptions to the many rules that it can be disorienting, and frankly we feel like our brains are put into a blender after every lesson. But at this point Lisa is taking home lessons with a good friend of ours from the church and I am enrolled at the local University, taking 18 hours per week of Czech studies. Just when I thought school was behind me, it locked me back in.

Though the process can be difficult, the mistakes I've made along the way have made the class a little more fun. When you want to say the word "painting," but wind up saying "love making," you tend to get weird looks. Another time I wound up telling the professor "train station" in response to his sneeze. And "the pub" has taken the place of "the hospital" on more occasions than I'm willing to tell you.

The quality side of this kind of rigorous training is that we're catching on a little better every week. When we first landed here, being surrounded by discussions in Czech was extremely overwhelming, but now it feels a little more natural to hear, and I'm actually catching on to some of what is being said. One of the key qualities of knowing the language here is not only communication, but there is a ton of cultural knowledge that tailgates the language, such that you wouldn't really be able to have a firm grasp of it without it.

Metro Church in Olomouc

We've had a few influential people, like Dietrich Schindler, come out and speak to our network of churches.

In terms of ministry, I have to say we've been given more opportunities to serve here than I thought we would being so new. Our church has become as close as family very quickly and by the grace of God we've seen more people coming and being apart of this movement. Our home church in Olomouc has almost doubled since we got here, so if you're praying for us we would be grateful for you to turn your attention there. But on top of hosting a community group in our home, I had the privilege of preaching at both Metro Church in Olomouc and Majak Church in Vsetin. And each time amplified the motivation to know the language.

Preaching on Acts 17 at Majak

Preaching on 1 Peter 4 at Metro

On top of our Sunday evening gatherings and meeting in our homes, we have had other opportunities to serve by using our native language. On two occasions over the last few months were able to teach english and share the Gospel of Jesus through our stories of who we are and how we got here. And that opened up deeper conversations with a number of people. A few weeks ago we were able to share on a panel alongside a few Syrian refugees and it was incredibly encouraging to see what God is doing around the world, even in the darkest places.

Sharing communion together

Telling our story at a Metro outreach event

Metro Union is a monthly event that brings in university students to discuss various topics of life, society, and faith. And during the week students are invited to be apart of the community group, where they can go deeper together.

Our family has been doing well as we've settled here. There is definitely culture shock for the kids as well, and we can see it in their interactions with other Czech kids (they can sometimes be more reserved when they realize they don't understand what's being said). Not knowing the language is a huge barrier to relationships, and we have come to the point where we are going to find a Czech school to enroll them in for the sake of their knowing the language and making Czech friends. But in the meantime, they are keeping with their home curriculum and have opportunities to connect with kids at community group and different weekly things that we have them involved in (Andrew is loving Muey Thai). But on top of all of that, we can tell the kids have grown closer together as a result of the move, and we just recently surprised them with a kitten (and a puppy on the way next week.....Shhhh, don't tell them). Interestingly, Nora believes that police officers punish traffic violators with kittens after Daddy got his first traffic ticket on the night we brought the cat home in a box.

We received a care package from one of our sending churches. I cannot tell you how loved we feel from our people back in the States.

We got a Ragdoll cat named Zwingli (named after the Reformer/Theologian Ulrich Zwingli).

Andrew learning his numbers in the most productive way he knows how.

Kids trying not to get zapped as they feed a cow over an electric fence.

First snow of the year.

When it comes to support, I couldn't ask for a greater situation. Our community group has come to be an immense encouragement to us and our Pioneers team is a diverse group who get along really well. So, between the Czech's and American/Australian team, we have a well rounded group of people helping us to keep our eyes on the reason we're here

Our missional community group

Our Pioneers team

Friendsgiving 2016

While the world of visas has been an interesting puzzle, we're now only 1 step from receiving our 2 year visas coming in January. What was once a crazy spiral of experiences has become a little less intense now that we know where to go and the right people to talk to

Waiting patiently in a long hall way for one of the endless doors to open for us to apply for our next round of visas

4 hours later....

Our city goes through the waves of a typical college town, but it is different to be in such a completely post-Christian society. We have resemblances of that in the States in small pockets, but here there is so very little understanding of the Christian worldview that a lot of pre-evangelism work needs to be done before a grid can be laid for the Gospel to make any sense. Our heart is to see Gospel centered churches planted, so to see the health of the local church on mission is of the utmost importance to us. A Word and Spirit driven community that multiplies is what we long to see in our lifetime, and by the grace of God we get to be apart of that.

the main Square with the Trinity monument at its center.

Through the ups and downs it is a dream come true to be investing our lives amongst the unreached. So grateful to be apart of what God is doing in the Czech Republic

We are now nearly 3 months into our new lives in the Czech Republic, and so far our expectations moving in are pretty much matching reality and then some. We were expecting stress, confusion, and disorientation where things are different. But while those feelings are true for new expats, we've also been well taken care of by our church, the Pioneers team, and even our neighbors. Walking the streets, we've been praying to adopt the overall feel of our city, and we've noticed a drastic difference from the time we moved in until now.

Olomouc is a city of around 100,000 people, and a quarter of that consists of college students. So, during the summer months when classes are not usually going on, the city feels a lot less full. Even if you did not know this about the city, you could probably feel it by simply looking around. Something is missing. But now that the Fall season has begun, the city is now brimming with life again.

Speaking of students....After many many years of finishing the undergrad and graduate degrees, it would seem that school was behind me. Not so! We are both involved in language studies, but now I (Dan) am a university student again, devoting about 20 hours per week of class time to learn Czech. Pray for me, since they don't call this an intensive for nothing. And as Lisa and I would tell you, it is a very difficult language to learn from English, so your prayers are truly appreciated.

This kids running toward the city square

The City Square

I'm a student again!

One of the things we have made a high priority for is making sure the kids are making friends and learning the Czech language. They are doing distance learning through the Academy for Classical Christian studies out of OKC, so much of their education exists at home with a quality curriculum. But to get the kids involved, we have found a Muey Thai gym for Andrew to attend and the girls will soon be starting gymnastics. And there have been a number of other International friends they have made through our Pioneers team, and other MK's. The creative opportunities to get the kids immersed are almost endless, so we're just experimenting along the way and seeing what God gives us.

Pioneers Kids hanging out on a turtle

Andrew in Muey Thai

Probably our greatest joy here has been connecting with our neighbors and opening our home for community to happen. Our neighbors have been incredibly inviting, and we have found good friends with a number of them so far. Some of them do not speak english, which is a huge motivator to get proficient in Czech, but some of them do, which has given us a lot of opportunity to get to know them better this early. So, they have been an immense blessing to us. We have a community group meeting in our home as well, which has been exciting to have both people from the church and the other parts of the area coming and exploring who we are in light of who God is.

Our church in Olomouc is still in the church plant stage, but we are seeing a lot of changes along the way, as we are apart of a broader network of churches here called the Majak network. This movement began about ten years ago with leaders desiring to see the Gospel as central to life and ministry and wanting to see that play itself out in the way more churches are planted. This last month was the big kick off for the next season where all of the churches came together to worship Jesus and share our common vision for the country. The video below shares a few Czech songs.

Majak Vykop 2016

Lisa sat in on a panel discussion sharing what life has been like as an International working with the church in Czech.

Dan filming the video below

In the first month we were here, we showed up to church on a Sunday night, but the owner of the building forgot the Sunday we were supposed to meet, so at a last second change we had church in our living room. Flexibility is a core value of Pioneers, and things like that have opened up great opportunities to serve.

We have been honored to invest our lives to the local church here, and while we have already made great friends with many of them, tonight we made it official by becoming covenant members of Metro Church in Olomouc. This is our new home and this is the community that we will invest our lives in, as we work together for our mutual joy in Christ and seeking the welfare of our city.

"So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us." ~2 Thessalonians 2:8